Joys of Life

My Uppercase living stuff

2010-01-27T11:58:00.000-08:00

This is my plaque with Vanessa's family pics =)

The Hall Wall

2009-12-21T10:08:00.001-08:00

I finally finished painting the Hall Walls!!! Now all we have to do is finish the trim and paint it and the 4 doors. So maybe by next summer I will be done completely. It turned out just as I imagined it to look like.

Dancing Summer Days!

2009-08-12T10:36:00.000-07:00

Naughty Day

2009-07-31T16:33:00.000-07:00

Our little Man

2009-07-07T11:00:00.000-07:00

Sonora Pass 4th of July 2009

2009-07-07T10:57:00.000-07:00

Jump for Joy

2009-06-29T13:16:00.000-07:00

You can't help but smile!

Beach Trip

2009-06-29T11:58:00.001-07:00

walking with the Beers

2009-06-29T10:37:00.000-07:00

San Francisco with Beers

2009-06-29T09:31:00.000-07:00

Noe using his new remote control car

2009-04-03T17:29:00.000-07:00

Noe loves this car. He brings it out nearly everyday and it is great because he can play with it all by himself. At first he would only run it when he was up in his chair, I think it scared him that it could touch his feet. But now he does not care and just drives it everywhere (especially over mommy and daddy's feet).

Daddy's "TV" Hat

2009-04-03T17:21:00.000-07:00

Is he not the cutest thing in the whole world!?!?!!!

We are not making a statement

2009-04-03T17:18:00.000-07:00

Noe did this on his own. He got dirty and this is what showed up. We did find it quite humorous. We thought you all might find it funny too.

Our New Cookin' Aprons

2009-04-03T17:08:00.000-07:00

Mom made Noe and I matching aprons. Aren't they darling?!!! Noe's says his name on the pocket.

We're Ready for Another Baby

2009-04-03T16:56:00.000-07:00

Noe really wanted to put
this on while I was sewing. And he held it so carefully as if there was a baby in it. It was so cute to see such a tender side of my little man.

Top 5's

2009-04-01T18:19:00.000-07:00

I snagged this off of Dawn's Blog, What a great idea!

Top five places you could own a summer/winter house:

Kauai
Acapulco
Greece
Sonora, near our family
Park City, Utah

Top five favorite actors:

Christian Bale
Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Kyle Chandler
Steve Zahn
Hugh Laurie

Top five favorite actresses:

Reece Witherspoon
Claire Danes
Jennifer Garner
Kate Hudson
Meg Ryan

Top five favorite musical performers:

Kim Walker
Misty Edwards
Plum
Rascal Flatts
John Michael Montgomery

Top five favorite soundtracks:

Lord of the Rings (all of the them)
You've Got Mail
Pirates of the Caribbean
Gladiator
Jerry McGuire

Top five favorite books (I don't re-read books as I'm lucky to make it through once):

Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers
Zion Chronicles by Bodie Thoene
Zion Covenant by Bodie Thoene
Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis
Calvin and Hobbes (the whole series) by John Waterman (or something like that)

Top five vices:

Soda Pop (specifically McDonald's Coke, any Dr Pepper)
"working" in front of the TV
Being to cold to be productive (I could lay under a comfy blanket all day and watch tv)
baby anything (books, name books, websites, products, etc)
M&M's

Top five movies I'll watch anytime:

Friends (seasons 1-10)
Sahara
Zoolander
What Happens in Vegas (so great)
Anne of Green Gables & Anne of Avonlea

Noe Animal

2009-02-23T17:10:00.000-08:00

Showing the more primal side of Noak. But doesn't it just suit him?!

Happy Birthday Aunty M

2009-01-26T10:55:00.000-08:00

She's

Can you believe it?

Here's the front door

2009-01-26T10:43:00.000-08:00

Gabe got me this for Christmas and then he put it in and did new trim.
Isn't it beautiful!

One of our new trees

2009-01-18T16:51:00.000-08:00

We've been wanting another baby for so long that we've decided to plant our own and see if anything will come from it. So far we're not seeing a whole lot of progress. But it sure is fun to watch.
here is the lime tree we planted. Isn't it beautiful?!!! we also planted a blood orange and a lemon tree. And we dropped our scrubby oak and another ugly little tree. Our yard is looking better and better....I can't wait till spring when we can plant our garden!

Showing off our new Bike gear

2009-01-18T16:06:00.000-08:00

Here is Noak's New Bike Stuff.
He is great at pedaling his tricycle around and around and he looks so cute in all his gear. Although I must admit that he only wears the helmet when we go biking (he has a seat on the back of my bike, so I insist on the helmet). For those of you who are not familiar with my bike history...The first two times Gabe took me mountain biking I hit a tree--BOTH times-- I am pretty good at not hitting trees when we are on the paved bike paths here but I still insist on the helmet. =) Hope you all enjoy the pics.

Our Charlie Brown Christmas Tree

2008-12-18T21:30:00.000-08:00

here it is all done up! oh and a little Christmas elf....

Our Christmas Tree Adventure

2008-12-14T19:45:00.000-08:00

Getting Ready to get our Tree. Last year we were FREEZING but this year we came prepared and then it wasn't very cold.

We always find time for family pictures. Aren't we cute!?!?!

Jesus and the "Honkey"

2008-12-03T16:33:00.000-08:00

Here is our first real Nativity scene. I bought a cheap one so that Noe could play with it and get to know the people involved. He loves playing with baby Jesus and the animals, especially. I was sitting with him and telling him the story of Jesus' birth and why he came. He was asking me who each person was and what each of the animals was. He would set each thing up so that it was looking at baby Jesus. After telling him what each thing was this is what he remembered......
After all of this I found him with his finger in the hole on the back of baby Jesus. He was flying the baby around saying "it's okay, I've got you baby."
My child is sooooo darling. I know you all agree. And I hope you enjoy this window into our day.

Noak using Scissors for the 1st Time

2008-12-03T12:44:00.000-08:00

This is Noe's 1st attempt at using scissors. Not only is he a genius but he is also very cute....especially how he opens his mouth when he opens the scissors.

Noak's 1st day of Tracing

2008-12-03T12:24:00.000-08:00

I did a little school with Noe today. We learned about the letter C and we reviewed A and B. We also used scissors for the 1st time and we did some fun colouring. Is he not just a total genius!!! =)

Mom's hat

2008-11-11T13:48:00.000-08:00

Finally a Friend that is a BOY!

2008-11-11T12:57:00.000-08:00

We have been so excited to actually get to play with a boy our age. We need some more boys around.

Noe and Baby Joe

2008-10-14T09:12:00.000-07:00

Noe is laying next to "Baby Joe" while he is putting his baby to sleep. My son has love his little friend's baby dolls. He wants to hold them and feed them. He doesn't have any babies around so we thought it would be fun to get him a baby and teach him how to handle and take care of it. We didn't have to do too much, he just naturally was gentle and kind and loving to his baby. He told us he named the baby "Joe". It was the cutest thing to see him rock baby Joe and sing him to sleep. I know Noe is a boy and boys don't have dolls but since we haven't been able to have a baby yet, this is the best way for us to get Noe used to handling babies.
and as with all our videos they end with "I look, please?" as Noe is coming toward the camera to see what I just videoed. So for now..."I look".

Nogit Reid

2008-10-07T16:52:00.000-07:00

This says it all....

A Boy and His Dog

2008-10-06T17:51:00.000-07:00

Noak is in a very impressionable stage right now. Everything he sees or hears is quickly repeated. His vocabulary is growing everyday and the things he knows and understands also is growing. I came out this afternoon to find both my son and my dog with their noses in to the ground, in a hole. That's where our video picks up...
Both were digging holes with their noses. What joy we find in the dirt in our backyard!

Favorites

2008-09-24T11:56:00.000-07:00

These are my two favorite guys in the whole world. They bring joy and sunshine to my life everyday. Are they not so cute!!! That's it, that's all I have to say today.

Happy Birthday Gramma L

2008-09-19T15:12:00.000-07:00

Here's a little shout out to Gramma L while she is on the road to Oklahoma and Mississippi. Though we could not be with you on your birthday we were thinking of you non the less. Here are a few humorous videos for your enjoyment. Gramma L and Papa Ernie- we miss you and love you lots!
This last one was the "short-n-sweet" version. Noe knows when he has it in one take.

First Day of "Home School" and Some Fun

2008-09-16T10:51:00.001-07:00

I asked Noe what letter this was and I was very surprised when he got it right. I helped him with the upper case A but with the lower case one I just told him to draw a circle and then a line on the side. Isn't it AMAZING!!! My son is a genius. =) This is his first attempts, he is so brilliant! Okay am I a proud Mama or what!?!?! Well, this was the "work" and the video is the "fun". Sorry I have no idea how to flip the video. I hope you can enjoy it anyhow.

Happy Birthday Song for our Aunty Dawn

2008-09-09T14:43:00.000-07:00

Noe came to me after his nap today and asked me to sing the birthday song. So after I sang it a couple times it was Noe's turn. So Happy birthday Aunty Dawn. Dawn we love you and we pray that this year is full of blessings and joy. Happy Birthday! Love, Us

First time for everything

2008-09-09T10:36:00.000-07:00

This was Noak's attempt to put his own bib on. We only use them for sticky or wet food when he has nice clothes on. (His jammies are pulled down to his waist). He is learning something new everyday. It always surprises me. He just recently began to use adjectives and other words to fill in his sentences. So he will tell us about Papa Ernie's orange tractor (the Kubota that Dad gave Gabe). He will also point out the blue light and the red chair, his green shoes or the "daddy" bite he just took. Yesterday we were grocery shopping and he had the shopping cart buckle in his hand. He stretched it as high as it would go and he proclaimed "talk buckle". We don't linger on the heighths of objects very often and I was once again astounded that he used the correct word in referrence to where his buckle was. It was very cute. I am constantly finding myself telling Noe how smart he is and I'm usually saying it from a place of sheer surprise at how actually smart he is. (Occasionally I say it just as encouragement for something that he tells me over and over again).

Noe's New Bed

2008-08-25T11:59:00.000-07:00

This is Noe's new bed. We had our first experience with night time scaredness. We have been praying over Noe's room and teaching him to ask Jesus to come when he is scared. We spent a few nights having to hold his hand while he fell asleep and waking up to a little boy in our bed by morning. So we took Sunday afternoon to put together his new bed. We have been planning to put up bunk beds in his room because of all the visitors we seem to have. We also felt the fun change may make it easier for him to fall back into the routine of him going to sleep in his bed (and staying there). This is Noe laying down for a nap in his new bed. We strung special lights up on the inside to light up the space and we put a canopy over the top too. The one weirdly lit picture is just the presence of God and His angels filling Noe's room (or possibly just a weird flash =) ). Last night though, Noe was waking up because he has the beginnings of a cold, so after 4 times of getting up with him, I just decided to sleep there with him for a while. After a couple hours I decided to go to my own bed and actually sleep, when I rose quickly i forgot that we had bunk beds and I slammed the bridge of my nose on the top rail. While seeing stars I climbed into bed while Gabe consoled me. I must say, despite that and as Noe is taking a Nap with no help, I do love the bunkbeds.

Our New Tractor

2008-08-25T11:35:00.000-07:00

We are the proud owners of an old Kubota tractor. It is a wonderful gift that my dad gave to us and we have been anxiously awaiting it's delivery to our home in Redding. It runs great when the tires are not falling off (which only happened once and was promptly fixed). We have already begun to clear our back yard. We even have people lining up to borrow it.

Gabe sings special bedtime songs with Noe each night. He sings a different one for each grandparent. Till now Papa Ernie's song has been "Papa Ernie drives a tractor, Papa Ernie drives a truck, Vroom vroom vroom goes the tractor, vroom vroom vroom goes the truck. But since my parents came up and brought our new Kubota the song has been asked to be changed...Now when Gabe sings the song Noe interjects with (and makes Gabe correct the song with) Papa Ernie drives an ORANGE tractor. I know that Papa Ernie has been trying to encourage John Deer Green but I think that it will now be Kubota Orange. Noe is very firm about that.

Running and Jumping

2008-08-17T19:45:00.000-07:00

Running and Jumping and Running and Jumping and Running and Jumping and Running...............

Running and Jumping and Running and Jumping and Running and Jumping and Running...............

Running and Jumping and Running and Jumping and Running and Jumping and Running...............

Little hands and little feet, all covered in sand.

2008-08-17T18:24:00.000-07:00

What a difference a year makes. Last year our little guy mostly sat and played in the sand, this year anticipating long bouts of sitting, we bought sand castle buckets, shovels, rakes, boats and more only to find that things had changed. So we abandoned our royal castle and we chased our little prince instead. We jumped, we ran, we fell in the sand, we drew circles and letters and pictures. We were all covered in sand by the time we left, a little wet and a bit chilly. But I love that the day at the beach was unexpectedly so much better than I had hoped or imagined.

2008-08-15T12:03:00.000-07:00

Our Cousin is finally big enough to play with, well sit next to.

One of our greatest joys is our family. Paisley time was especially fun.

Shake Your Bootie

2008-08-15T10:17:00.000-07:00

I love to play with Noe and sing. One of my favorites is "Shake your booootie " and I put my hands on his hips and shake his little bootie....as well as the rest of him, it is quite funny. We always sing and dance around our house. One day Noe comes into the kitchen while I am cooking and I feel these two little hands one either side of my bootie and i hear "shake bootie, shake bootie" as he is trying to make me shake. When I finally figured out what he was saying I almost fell down laughing. I hope you enjoy this as much as I do.